Just about every boat you work on or visit is
going to have cast iron pots and frying pans somewhere. Cast iron is
great to cook with and will help the worst stove turn out some pretty good
grub. After you work
in that galley for a while, you'll hear a different method of how to care for these
from every member of the crew that sees you handling the iron gear.
Sometimes the unsolicited advice starts flaring up into heated debate. We decided to find out once
and for all, how the pans are supposed to be cared for. In our
search, we came up with nothing conclusive, so we put it all together and
developed and average method for keeping your cast iron in tip top shape.

The three major points always discussed about
cast iron are restoration, seasoning, and cleaning. There was never
an agreement about the proper methods of each, either. We couldn't
figure out who was more qualified to give advice, so after countless pages
on the subject, we found the averages.

Restoration means exactly that.
The first thing you must do to a cast iron pan in a boat is take off the
years of rust, carbon, and general crud that has accumulated. It has
to be done. On one side, you have the purists who say you should
leave it on there. Then the other side of the argument shows up and
says to get a case of oven cleaner and chemically remove it all. The
average opinion seems to be to take it off, but not with chemicals.
The build-up of crud will keep the pan from heating evenly and the
chemicals can get into the pores of the iron and flavor the future meals.
Best bet? Needle guns. That's right. Take the ancient
pan into the engine room or back to the stern and clamp it in a vice.
Run a needle gun over it until it's smooth as new. You can always
season it up again. It will give you years more service and look
good doing it.

Seasoning seems to be nothing more
than burning grease onto the the cooking surface of the pan. Put the
pan in the stove all night, then wipe the hot iron with cooking oil.
No. Cook a pound of bacon and then wipe out the pan and bake it till
you smoke the galley up. That's wrong too? Well then, take
some salt and.......Never mind. The methods start to conflict and
then the crew is yelling at each other about it. The average of all
the methods seems to be to get a paper towel and moisten it with cooking
oil. Wipe the cooking oil onto the inside of the pan until the metal
looks shiny and smooth. Put the pan into an oven at 375°. When
you can smell the oil cooking, take the pan out and wipe it out with a dry
paper towel. If there are any dry spots when you first take it out,
then you may want to cool the pan and repeat this process. What
you're after is a pan that looks like it's wet even when it's cool.
That will make for a mostly non-stick cooking surface.

Cleaning is the grand daddy of all
conflicts when it comes to the care of cast iron. The biggest
debate? Should detergent be used or not? Restaurant owners and
chefs are required to use detergent and they say their favorite cast iron
does just fine. Other would completely lose their minds if they saw
someone cleaning a pan with anything other than some salt for scouring and
a damp rag. Still others insist that you can cook the grime on and
"season 'er up". The average seems to be this: Avoid the deep
sink and avoid the scouring pads, if possible. Use only good old hot
water if you can. When some food gets cooked onto the surface, just
put some water in the pan and boil it for a few minutes. The
hardened food will soften right up and then will come clean with a wet
wash rag. After that, just dry the pan well and apply a very light
coat of cooking oil to keep the surface looking wet.
Accidents happen and the pan may become completely fouled with incinerated
dinner. No worries. Scrub it, scour it, do whatever you have
to do to get it back to the restoration phase and just season it back up.
Simple.

The single most important step you can
take to keep your cast iron looking good and performing well is to finish
the cleaning with a light spray of no-stick cooking spray. Wipe it
out thoroughly with a dry paper towel and the pan should stay shiny for
weeks. Regular oil will work for this but it goes on fairly heavy so
use it sparingly.

The average tugboat has average cooks using
average gear to do the cooking. If you use the average methods to
clean you cast iron, it should be just fine. Everyone is genuinely
interested in how your grandmother took care of hers but there's no
comparison in the time that a full time home maker has to maintain her
gear. The crews of the boats have gotten smaller and it's up to the
average Joes like us to do the job. Keep it simple. Keep it
average. Things will be just fine.